Carbon dioxide (CO2) compression and delivery systems can be used in many industrial applications, for example, a quite diffused employ is for the cleaning of semiconductors. For this application, the flow, delivery characteristics, and gas quality (especially in term of contaminants) are of paramount importance.
Carbon dioxide substrate cleaning where small carbon dioxide particles agglomerate into large snowflakes is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,979 of Swain et al. More particularly, Swain et al. describes a cleaning process involving expanding carbon dioxide from an orifice into a thermally insulated chamber to form small carbon dioxide particles, retaining the small carbon dioxide particles in the insulating chamber until the small carbon dioxide particles agglomerate into large snowflakes, entraining the large snowflakes in a high velocity vortex of inert gas to accelerate the large snowflakes, and directing a stream of the inert gas and accelerated large snowflakes against the surface of a substrate to be cleaned.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,508 of Leitch et al. describes a carbon dioxide purification and supply system, requiring the presence of a purifying filter and elements such as receiver tanks in order to manage and handle intermediate liquid carbon dioxide. More particularly, Leitch et al. describe a batch process and apparatus for producing a pressurized liquid carbon dioxide stream including distilling a feed stream of carbon dioxide vapor off of a liquid carbon dioxide supply, introducing the carbon dioxide vapor feed stream into at least one purifying filter, condensing the purified feed stream within a condenser to form an intermediate liquid carbon dioxide stream, introducing the intermediate liquid carbon dioxide stream into at least one high-pressure accumulation chamber, heating the high pressure accumulation chamber to pressurize the liquid carbon dioxide contained therein to a delivery pressure, delivering a pressurized liquid carbon dioxide stream from the high-pressure accumulation chamber, and discontinuing delivery of the pressurized liquid carbon dioxide stream for replenishing the high pressure accumulation chamber.
US patent application 2015/0253076 of Briglia et al. discloses a method and apparatus for purifying and condensing carbon dioxide by means of multiple vessels connected in series. More particularly, a carbon dioxide-rich mixture is cooled in a first brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchanger, at least one fluid derived from the cooled mixture is sent to a purification step having a distillation step and/or at least two successive partial condensation steps, the purification step produces a carbon dioxide-depleted gas which heats up again in the first exchanger, the purification step produces a carbon-dioxide rich liquid which is expanded, then sent to a second heat exchanger where it is heated by means of a fluid of the method, the exchanger carrying out an indirect heat exchange only between the carbon dioxide-rich liquid and the fluid of the method, the carbon dioxide-rich liquid at least partially vaporizes in the second exchanger and the vaporized gas formed heats up again in the first exchanger to form a carbon dioxide-rich gas which can be the end product of the method.
US patent application 2007/0204908 of Fogelman et al. discloses Dewars system with a heating thermoelectric devices for vapor generators from a liquid phase, such systems not usable for a reversible concept of gas to liquid conversion due both to the only heating capability of the thermoelectric devices as well as for the presence of one-way valves on the gas delivery circuit.
US patent application 2004/0089335 of Bingham et al. discloses fluid delivery system making use of thermoelectric devices installed on a limited and narrow portion of the device.
The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa. A thermoelectric device creates voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. Conversely, when a voltage is applied to it, it creates a temperature difference.
The term “thermoelectric effect” encompasses three separately identified effects: the Seebeck effect, Peltier effect, and Thomson effect. The Peltier effect is the presence of heating or cooling at an electrified junction of two different conductors. When a current is made to flow through a junction between two conductors, heat may be generated (or removed) at the junction.
The present invention makes use and exploit reversible thermoelectric effect, i.e. the capability of devices to both cause heating and cooling. One of the most widely used device exhibiting such behavior are Peltier devices, while devices just causing heating, such as Joule-Thomson based devices, are not suitable to carry out the present invention.
Use of the Peltier effect or Peltier device for fluid delivery and control is known for a long time, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,204 of Jennings et al. However, this patent does not contemplate carbon dioxide storage and liquefaction, and the systems therein described envision the use of a complex structure including plurality of generically defined annulus concentric channels.